“Exactly as expected,” Poland ousts Germany in Volleyball Nations League quarterfinals

ARLINGTON, Texas — Poland was too big and too strong as it overpowered Germany in four sets to open quarterfinal play of Volleyball Nations League.

At first it appeared Poland would win in a rout, but German toughened up, won the second set, and made Poland earn a 25-12, 21-25, 25-21, 26-24 victory.

“The game was open until the end,” Poland coach Stefano Lavarini said. “It was a great fight and it went exactly as expected.”

Perhaps, but Poland beat Germany on June 29 and the 15-25, 25-19, 25-19, 19-25, 17-15 outcome made you figure Wednesday’s match in the College Park Center at the University of Texas Arlington would be close.

Magdalena Stysiak had 17 kills and an ace and also a match-high 20 digs. Olivia Rozanski had 16 kills, a block and an ace and Martyna Lukasik had 15 kills. Joanna Pacak had three kills and six blocks and Agnieszka Korneluk had eight kills. Maria Stenzel had 15 digs.

Hanna Orthmann had 21 kills and an ace for Germany. Lina Aslmeier had 14 kills and an ace to go with 12 digs, and Camilla Weitzel had 10 kills, a block and two aces. Anna Pogany had 14 digs.

Poland held a 10-5 blocks advantage and had 64 kills to Germany’s 57. Germany had six aces to Poland’s two.

Poland will play the USA-Japan winner on Saturday in the semifinals.

Germany, the eighth seed, finished its season with four losses in a row, in five to Poland and in four each to Serbia and the USA to end the third round. But it was also Germany’s first VNL appearance since 2009.

“It’s always tough after a loss like that but I’m proud of what we’ve done as a team,” Orthmann said. “We could have done a little more. We started very slow in the first set. We came back and I think in the end we had a chance to win the (fourth) set. 

“We didn’t make it at the end. At this moment it hurts, but I think in a few days we can look back at the VNL and be proud of what we did.”

Play continues Thursday with early quarterfinal matches when Brazil plays China at 10:30 a.m. Central and Türkiye plays Italy at 2 p.m.

Friday is an off day, with semifinals on Saturday and medal matches Sunday.

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